Three separate technology disruptions in Maryland and the Washington region this month forced hospitals to revert to contingency procedures and highlighted how dependent modern medical care has become on electronic systems.
Incident at Eastern Shore system started the chain
An Eastern Shore hospital system, TidalHealth, lost Internet and phone service and temporarily lost access to electronic medical records on Aug. 13 after construction workers inadvertently struck a sprinkler pipe that damaged an IT area. Clinical teams shifted to paper documentation, used pre-printed forms, switched to backup communications and activated an incident command structure across the system’s roughly 30 medical sites, the system said.
"Hospitals plan for the loss of our systems regardless of what causes it, and the procedures are the same whether the trigger is a pipe, a power failure or an attack," a TidalHealth spokesperson told The Baltimore Sun, noting that patient care continued. "We train on these procedures."
Two further disruptions followed
That outage was the first of three technology disruptions to affect hospitals in less than a month. On Sept. 1, Luminis Health experienced a cyberattack that impacted services at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis and Doctors Community Medical Center in Lanham. More recently, a temporary network failure affected three hospitals in the Johns Hopkins Health System.
As of the most recent updates, Luminis hospitals remained open but continued to experience phone outages and interruption to the MyChart patient portal.
What hospitals did and why it matters
Across systems, clinical teams activated established downtime procedures that health systems say they regularly rehearse. Those procedures include:
- Switching to paper documentation and using pre-printed forms for charting and orders.
- Using backup communications channels and incident command structures.
- Routing critical workarounds for prescriptions, laboratory results and imaging when digital access is unavailable.
Electronic systems now touch patient records, prescriptions, laboratory tests, imaging, communications and some medical devices, making coordinated downtime responses essential to maintaining safe care when systems fail.
Preparedness is baked into routine operations
Officials with the University of Maryland Medical System said the system has not been affected by the recent outages but regularly incorporates "downtime exercises" into software and database maintenance — a practice UMMS leaders call a "regular best practice in the industry." Meghan Treber, UMMS vice president of system readiness and chief preparedness officer, said the healthcare sector has seen an uptick in cyber events that affect hospitals.
The recent string of incidents underscores two related points: hospitals must be prepared for both deliberate cyberattacks and accidental physical damage to infrastructure, and the same playbook — practiced in drills — governs the response in either case.
Public-facing impacts and patient guidance
Patients and families may experience several practical effects during such outages:
- Delayed or altered scheduling and longer processing times for admissions and discharges.
- Limited access to patient portals (such as MyChart), online appointment booking and phone support lines when phone systems are down.
- Potential delays in non-urgent imaging and laboratory reporting as teams use manual workarounds.
Hospitals in the affected systems have emphasized that emergency and critical services remained available and that patient care continued during the incidents.
Where things stand now
At the time of the most recent reports, TidalHealth had completed its emergency response after the sprinkler-pipe incident and noted continuity of care. Luminis continued to report phone and MyChart outages while keeping its hospitals open. Johns Hopkins described the most recent disruption as a temporary network failure that affected three hospitals.
| System | Cause | Immediate effects |
|---|---|---|
| TidalHealth | Physical damage to IT area from struck sprinkler pipe | Loss of Internet, phone service, electronic records; switched to paper workflows |
| Luminis Health | Cyberattack (Sept. 1) | Phone and MyChart outages; hospitals remained open |
| Johns Hopkins Health System | Temporary network failure | Network interruption affecting three hospitals |
Healthcare officials and system leaders say continued training on downtime procedures and regular exercises are key to ensuring patient safety when technology fails, whether from a physical accident, a power outage or a cyber intrusion. The incidents serve as a reminder to patients to confirm appointments, prepare for possible communication delays, and to have necessary contact information on hand when accessing care.
Reporting for this article relied on statements and reporting from the involved health systems and public comments provided to The Baltimore Sun and other outlets.
